she was beautiful
INEVITABLE"and you still have the guts to show your face here after what you've done?"
eunae bolts up from bed when she hears her mom's voice echoing from downstairs.
she realizes it's morning, relieved that she at least got some sleep after what she had gone through last night.
she went straight back to her parents' house after her talk with seulgi. she was fuming when she told her family everything.
she managed to turn them against her wife--managed to make them believe she's the victim.
her parents were disappointed, saying they never trusted seulgi even from before and kind of knew something like this would happen. it was a right move for them to push with the prenuptial agreement.
they are glad that eunae seems okay even after what happened. no tears. no wailing. she was simply mad. eunae was delighted too. it hurt her--yes--because she was betrayed not only by seulgi but by her most trusted financial advisor. but it isn't enough to make her cry.
she retired to her room after dinner, feeling exhausted and drained. she lie still on her bed, thinking, connecting the dots. after what seulgi admitted, everything finally made sense to her.
yes, she betrayed seulgi's trust before. she would never deny that. but she was still young at that time when it happened. it was a one-time thing. she's a changed person now. she had never thought of betraying seulgi again, especially after their marriage.
she keeps thinking and thinking the whole night. her anger won't allow her to sleep. she wants to hit seulgi more, hurt her and curse her again. she wants to see seulgi cry. in that way she could at least get back at seulgi for all the pain she put her through.
"we won't let you near our eunae again ever!"
upon hearing that, euane whips her head at the door and stands. she follows her mother's voice coming from her dad's office. she used the connecting door to silently enter the room from the other side, hiding behind the bookshelves.
imagine her shock when she sees seulgi kneeling on the floor, head hanging low, getting scolded by her mom while her dad is standing behind.
"how dare you show your face here, you scumbag!" her mom fires.
seulgi keeps her head low, hands on her knees. "i want to apologize for what i did, ma'am, sir. it is all my fault. i should be blamed for everything. eunae doesn't deserve to be treated like that."
eunae's mouth hangs open.
"do you know how hard it is for me to see my daughter getting hurt like that?" eunae's mom points at herself. "we trusted you with our youngest! how dare you betray her!"
"i'm really sorry--" before seulgi can finish her sentence, a palm landed on her cheek.
eunae covers with a hand.
"i hope you won't be happy for the rest of your life!" eunae's mom shouts while her dad tries to stop her from slapping seulgi again. "you're a cheater! a traitor!"
eunae finds herself gripping the frame of the shelf. her feet won't move. she doesn't know what to do.
seulgi, on the other hand, stays in her position, kneeling and looking down.
"i'm really sorry for hurting eunae, ma'am. there are no other explanations for what i did. i am ashamed of what i did."
"well, you should be! we gave everything to you and eunae after your wedding! she never wronged you! you could have at least done your part and have been faithful to her!"
eunae gulps. her parents never knew of her cheating from before. seulgi thinks there's no need to tell her parents about that as they are putting it behind them.
but now that seulgi's getting all the blame, eunae feels guilty.
"what's with all these noises this early morning?" eunae's grandma enters the office. "seulgi, what are you doing there, kneeling?"
eunae's mom points at seulgi. "mom! this crud--"
"i heard all about what happened from last night," eunae's grandma says, walking towards a chair with the help of her cane. "do you think i can sleep peacefully with all that talking you did last night?"
eunae's mom and dad bows. "we're sorry, mom. we were just shocked after eunae told us what happened."
the old woman hums and sits on the chair, placing both hands on her cane. "can you two leave me alone with seulgi?"
eunae's feeling more nervous now, worrying about her grandma's condition. she can see seulgi having that same worried look on her face.
her parents obey and bows before leaving.
"so..." the old woman starts. "can you help me with the chair? the wheels are unsteady."
seulgi immediately stands locks the chair wheels so it won't move. once done, she kneels on the floor again in front of eunae's grandma.
"i heard you found your soulmate, huh?" the old woman says. seulgi nods. "i remember seeing her during eunae's birthday party. she's a sight, isn't she?"
there was no response, but eunae sees seulgi swallowing something in .
"are you happier with her?" came another question.
"it's... it's not like that, grandma," seulgi says softly. "eunae made me happy in so many ways, even in the simplest things. but it's..." she pauses, couldn't find the right words to say.
"but it's different with your soulmate, isn't it?" eunae's grandma smiles. "it's different in a way that you couldn't explain, but everything between you and that person seems to harmonize like you're made to fit each other."
seulgi raises her head, surprised.
eunae was surprised to hear this from her grandma, who never talked about soulmates before.
"i know, because i've met mine before," eunae's grandma admits.
"w-was it, your husband?" seulgi asks.
the old woman shakes her head. "i met him during the civil war when i volunteered as a nurse. he was one of those injured soldiers they brought in. he stayed there for only a month. but boy, did we really jive."
that made seulgi smile a bit.
"the belief about finding someone's soulmate at the time has already declined," the old woman continues. "couldn't blame the people. i mean, would you still look for your soulmate when your priority is to survive?" she chuckles. "i was not a believer myself until one of my patients, who claimed she's a shaman, told me he's my soulmate. he never found out as he was reassigned to the frontline after his recovery. never saw him again after that."
"could he have...?" seulgi couldn't finish her sentence.
"i don't know." the old woman shrugs. "i plan to look for him after war. my shaman patient wanted to help by activating the thread. but she needs to heal first as she's too weak at that time. sadly, she died a few days later."
eunae blinks. she never heard this story from her grandma.
"post-war, i got engaged to the son of my dad's business partner--which was my husband," the old woman says. "he was a good man. we lived a happy life together. but even so, i never got over that one month i spent with my soulmate in that hospital. it was short, but it gave me a different experience. it was a long time ago, but i still dream about him from time to time."
the details she's hearing adds up to eunae's growing curiosity about soulmates. at some point, it gave light for her to understand seulgi's situation.
"i know what you've probably gone through these past few years after you met your soulmate," eunae hears her grandma says. "you did try to make it work out with eunae, didn't you? but it doesn't feel the same with your soulmate."
seulgi nods.
"come here." the old woman beckons seulgi to come closer. the latter follows, getting surprised when eunae's grandma hold her hands. "i know my daughter-in-law said some awful things earlier. i hope you understand where she's coming from. she's a mother."
"i understand that, grandma. i am not taking anything against her," seulgi says.
the old woman taps seulgi's hand. "but i would like to thank you for giving ten years of your life to take care of our eunae."
seulgi's eyes widen. eunae finds herself gripping the shelf harder.
"i know it's not easy to babysit a bratty princess like her." the old woman smiles. "as much as it saddens me that things between the two of you would end soon, i'm glad she met you. i'm glad you took care of her."
seulgi doesn't seem to know what to say.
"don't blame yourself, seulgi. never ever blame yourself for this," the woman says. "it's not your fault. you tried. it's just that it's not going to work out anymore. i'm sure if you stay, you will end up hurting yourself and eunae in the process."
when seulgi looks down, eunae sees the tears streaming down her face.
"i'm sorry, grandma... i'm sorry..." she cries.
"shhh. it's not your fault..." the old woman pats seulgi's head. "we are just humans who are influenced by the greater beings above us. now tell me, how could we fight against such those indomitable forces?"
seulgi's crying harder now.
"go, child. be happy with your life." the old woman ruffles seulgi's hair. "things might be messy right now, but someday it'll make sense to you and eunae why all of these happened. for now, what you two need to do is to heal yourselves."
eunae sits on the floor, her back against the shelf. there's this heavy feeling in her chest since last night that she still can't deal with.
she sits there, listening as to how her grandma says seulgi should go, and how seulgi bids her goodbye.
when the door latches, her grandma speaks, "are you sure you're just going to sit there and think?"
eunae peeks through the books and sees her grandma looking at her direction.
"aren't you going to at least send seulgi off?"
eunae doesn't exactly know what she needs to do, but she finds herself standing up and going back to her room.
she peeks through the blinds and catches seulgi walking towards the gate, both hands in her pockets.
a small smile grazes her lips, realizing it's always been like this before whenever seulgi leaves the house.
but eunae feels like her heart ceases beating for a moment when seulgi stops on her tracks to turn to look at her window.
it took a few more seconds before seulgi raises an arm to give a simple wave.
eunae feels like she couldn't breathe anymore.
seulgi stays still for a moment before putting her hand back in her pocket, resuming to walk out of the gate.
eunae finds it funny how she thinks seulgi's still beautiful even after all these years.
but unlike before, this time, seulgi's no longer coming back to their house.
unlike before, this time, seulgi's not coming back to her life.
the pain in eunae's chest is now too overwhelming. she plops down on the bed and covers her face with a pillow.
and for the first time since last night, she cried.
checked the stats and i'm in awe of how chapter 23 got higher views from the others. and when i looked...
ooop! that's the rated m chap ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
ooop! that's the rated m chap ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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